Now a team of archaeologists seeking his lost grave beneath a council car park say they have made a “momentous” discovery, strongly suggesting his resting place has been found, and will reveal details of their find today.

If confirmed, the breakthrough will complete the first successful search for the lost grave of an English king.

The final piece in the puzzle rests with the DNA of a Canadian furniture-maker who is a descendant of the Plantagenets.

Michael Ibsen, 55, who lives in London, was identified by genealogists as a blood relative of Richard III after DNA testing established that his mother, Joy, who died in 2005, was a direct descendant of Anne of York, the king’s older sister.

Experts will compare samples taken from remains found during excavation of a Franciscan church in Leicester with a DNA sample from the king’s 17th-generation nephew to verify what they said yesterday was a “stunning” find. The process will take up to three months.

The discovery was made by a team excavating the ruins of Greyfriars Church within a Franciscan friary, where historical records state that Richard III was buried within days of his defeat and death at the hands of Henry Tudor at Bosworth in 1485.

The friary was torn down under Henry VIII and replaced by a manor, which housed a memorial to the king. But this too was demolished and over the centuries the king’s burial place was forgotten.

It was only this year that researchers could pinpoint the site, comparing historical maps with modern ones.

Richard Taylor, of Leicester University, which is leading the search, said: “Originally we were not even sure if we were going to find the friary; we could have just dug up Victorian rubble. But it became very clear early on that we had got the cloister walk of the friary, and then we announced that we had found the lost church of the Greyfriars which was a massive step forward. Now we are on the verge of something momentous.”

Historical society members hope that finding the king’s remains will disprove the legend that his corpse was exhumed and tossed in a river in the 16th century, and lay to rest other myths.

Richard III has been painted for centuries as a power-crazed hunchback with a withered arm, but historians now insist such an image is no more than Tudor propaganda, with Shakespeare’s portrayal of the king largely to blame.

Philippa Langley, of the Richard III Society, said it had been a “dream” that the project would find the remains, adding: “If the dream becomes reality it will be nothing short of miraculous.”